It's very difficult to choose between Dick Clark and Andy Griffith,because they both were "touchstones" of my childhood and youth. I give the edge to Clark because he wound up being a multigeneration touchstone, because my eldest daughter worked at the American Bandstand restaurant that used to be here and she got to meet Dick and his wife,and she said they were a really cute couple and both very real and humble people. For myself, I can remember being in the middle of playing baseball with my friends and hearing my sister yell that one of my favorite artists was performing on Bandstand,and off I'd scamper for home to watch that segment!

You got me, Doll! I recall a tv movie that Andy starred in back in the Eighties,in which he was the villian,tormenting and stalking a couple across the desert. He was so evil, I had a tough time believing that it was Griffith,but that was only because I hadn't yet seen his performance in "A Face In The Crowd", an Oscar worthy performance,if ever there was one.

The death of any celebrity really does not effect me. I do not personnally know any of the people. I know their work but I am not family or friends with any. To hit me "hard" it would be a family member or a good friend.

I have enjoyed Andy Griffith's acting for years, but his death did not change my life in any way.

It's not in 2012 but I still miss her I cried that day and I'm still in disbelief. She was a great artist, good person and she loved her fans. Her music was a staple in my life, I got through some rough times in my life listening to her lyrics. I can't believe it's been 11 years now. R&B; will never be the same.

As a rule, I focus not on celebrities. They usually disappoint. Whitney Houston was my favorite performer of the National Anthem, but was a drug abuser. My beloved Andy Griffith was a closet liberal. Dick Clark was cool, but cool doesn't support good politics. Donna Summer was fabulous, but again, if they were truly worth their salt, they'd be more like Charlton Heston and Clint Eastwood. Most celebrities are actors or singers, are busy being somebody else or pretending to be what they're not and live their lives in a vacuum, a false sense of reality. Brad Pitt is very misguided in his support for Obama, while his mother profoundly supports Romney. Angelina Jolie, another emo-liberal has for a father, Jon Voight, a profound "Clint Eastwood Conservative". I love the exceptions, but the mainstream is not worth much after you tuck away their CD or DVD.

I grew up listening to and watch Dick Clark on a very small TV screen, Opie and Andy were also favorites. It's always sad when you hear of those that you like have passed, but it helps when they have had long seasoned lives, unlike that of Whitney Houston, I knew that she was struggling with personal issues, but I thought that hooking up with Bishop T.D. Jakes, that surely she was going to get it together, to hear of her death, was unbelieveable. The Word of God does tell us that we know not the day or hour when our souls will be called away, and this was surely the case with Whitney, may she rest in peace.

That said, I think the loss of Neil Armstrong hit me the hardest. He was the epitome of what America should stand for. It was additionally sad that our current president was too involved with fund-raising in Las Vegas to attend Armstrong's memorial service. If Armstrong represented the best in America, Obama represents the worst.

A truly amazing man who changed the face of American, subtly - but modern society (for all that it is and is not) lies at his feet. He broke color lines, he legitimized rock and roll, and I can never see New Year's without his face coming into my mind.